Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
St. Matthews, Kentucky, in Jefferson County, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in St. Matthews is held at the county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and the jail's record of each person held is a public record. This guide says where to look for someone in custody, what the jail holds and who books people into it.
This guide covers the search, the jail, who books people, state prison and common questions.
Related guides: St. Matthews public records, Jefferson County inmate search, St. Matthews arrest records, St. Matthews warrants, St. Matthews criminal records, St. Matthews court records, Kentucky arrest records and Kentucky inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in St. Matthews
The county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in St. Matthews, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at louisvilleky.gov/government/sheriffs-office/services/sheriffs-offic... (page title: Sheriff's Office: Property Taxes and a whole lot more), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the office's jail information page rather than a roster.
The Jefferson County Jail by the Numbers
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 1,560 people on an average day, down from about 2,260 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 1,351 beds, and it is running at 115 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Jefferson County has about 794,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 20 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Jefferson County Jail
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for St. Matthews (filed by the FBI as St. Matthews Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around St. Matthews.
The FBI's agency list also places four other agencies, one campus police department and two state agencies in Jefferson County (the arrest records guide names each one).
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Louisville Metro's 15,439 for 2025, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office's 1,070 for 2025 and St. Matthews's 506 for 2025.
Together, the 18 agencies in Jefferson County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18,404 arrests to the FBI that year. Those kept in custody were booked into the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene was not.
The counts, agency by agency and year by year, are in St. Matthews arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in Jefferson County serves the sentence in a facility of the Kentucky Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in St. Matthews?
Ask the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at louisvilleky.gov.
How many people are in the Jefferson County jail?
About 1,560 on an average day so far in 2026, against a rated capacity of 1,351 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Jefferson County go?
To a facility of the Kentucky Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
Is this the official St. Matthews website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.